ACCELERATING 5G IN THE NORDIC AND BALTIC REGION: STEPPINGSTONES FOR CROSS BORDER COLLABORATION
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ACCELERATING 5G IN THE NORDIC AND BALTIC REGION: STEPPINGSTONES FOR CROSS BORDER COLLABORATION
ACCELERATING 5G IN THE NORDIC AND BALTIC REGION: STEPPINGSTONES FOR CROSS BORDER COLLABORATION Contents 5 Executive Summary 6 Setting the scene – introduction 8 Driving forces, strengths and weaknesses 18 Business opportunities – from a testbed viewpoint 21 Concluding remarks and recommendations 23 Method and approach 24 Verticals and current testbed status
”
The Nordic and Baltic
countries feature a
vast range of testbeds
and other test activities
for 5G
4Executive Summary
The Nordic region should be the “first and most integrated 5G region in the
world”, and the region should become a “common Nordic 5G space”. Those
goals were stated in a Letter of Intent (LoI) signed in April 2018 by the prime
ministers of the Nordic countries. This letter followed the Nordic-Baltic
ministerial declaration Digital North, adopted a year earlier.
The ministerial declarations acknowledge the disruptive power of 5G, and
the fact that 5G is more than a new generation of mobile technology. Unlike
previous shifts from 2G to 3G and from 3G to 4G, the major impact of 5G will
be found in almost all sectors of society, from industry, harbours, airports
and energy companies to media, farms, fisheries, hospitals and entire cities.
Analysts agree that each such vertical holds a business potential in the
billions of euros.1
Testbeds are widely recognised as instrumental in this development, for
developing new products, services and not least business models. Hence
the interest from the Nordic Council of Ministers in mapping the 5G test
activities, measuring the temperature of 5G activities and creating regional
5G SWOT analyses, and subsequently commissioning RISE to do so with this
report.
The Nordic and Baltic countries feature a vast range of testbeds and other
test activities for 5G. This report lists almost 50 such testbeds,2 serving a
range of purposes from network research to application in agriculture and
aquaculture. Numbers indicate, though, that the strongest impact will be
made within the manufacturing industry and transport. This is also where the
first business cases based on the new 5G functionalities can be found – using
5G for the continuous digitalisation of industrial production and digitalisation
of transport issues.
Manufacturing industries probably hold the key for Nordic-Baltic 5G
leadership. However, there’s also a potential for strong global impact
within agriculture, given the proper incentives for collaboration among the
stakeholders in the region.
1 See for instance “The 5G Business Potential”, Ericsson, 2019.
2 The appendix is available on request from the Ministerial Council for Digitalisation
5Setting the scene – introduction 1
The spring of 2019 marked the start of commercially available 5G services.
In South Korea, the USA and several other countries, the first commercial 5G
networks have already been rolled out, with some 10 million 5G subscribers ex-
pected by the end of the year. The Nordic and Baltic region will, along with other
countries in Europe, debut commercial 5G during 2019–2020, with subsequent
rollouts over the coming years.
5G will not only offer faster and more secure broadband connections, it will also
feature radically shorter response times (latency), the ability to handle a hitherto
unseen multitude of nodes, and private networks (network slicing), while also
significantly lowering the cost and energy needed per communicated byte.
The 5G enthusiasts emphasise the huge business opportunities. Globally, pro-
jections point towards almost 2 billion 5G subscribers within 5 years, account-
ing for 20% of all mobile subscriptions (source: Ericsson Mobility Report, June
2019). By 2026, analysts foresee a 1.2 trillion dollar market for 5G-enabled
digitalisation products and services, as categorised in figure 1.
The testbeds serve an important role in harnessing these business opportuni-
ties. Testbeds are instrumental for learning not only the technology but also
the operational, organisational and business aspects of the new opportunities.
Testbeds can be public, offering services for anyone interested, but can also be
closed, serving the needs of e.g. a factory, a port, or a hospital. They can be for
research only or have commercial interests. Some of the testbeds in this survey
are also driven by other forces, some more esoteric examples being observing
the impacts of global warming or assisting athletes in their ambition to win
Olympic medals.
What all the testbeds have in common, though, is their ambition to as quickly
as possible learn what opportunities 5G will bring to their particular field of
interest and how to make the most out of these opportunities. In many cases
– particularly where corporations are driving the testbeds – this also includes
how to make money from these insights. Early-use cases where 5G contrib-
utes to industrial digitalisation might be more about saving money, but there
are examples of more forward-leaning companies developing new offerings
using 5G. One example is the traffic safety testbed AstaZero in Sweden, whose
customers – the big automotive manufacturers – simply demand 5G access for
their trials.
The test activities have until now been hampered by low terminal availability.
This situation should be rectified during the summer of 2019, as the telecom
industry rolls out new terminals for 5G with a range of different capacities. The
ramp-up of terminal production is expected to be quite steep, ensuring that
the testbeds – and indeed the public at large – can dig into the brave new 5G
world.
6Figure 1:
5G-enabled digitalisation products and
services 2026, a 1.2 trillion dollar market.
Source:
The 5G Business Potential, Ericsson, 2019.
6% 1%
Financial
20%
services
8% Energy
Automative utilities
10%
Public transport
19%
10% Manufacturing
Media & industry
entertainment
13%
Health care 13%
Public safety
7Driving forces, strengths and 2
weaknesses
The 5G movement is quite complex, with many different driving forces. Geo-
graphically, it’s fair to say that Finland is a bit ahead of the other Nordic and
Baltic countries, with Sweden coming in second. Norway and Denmark are
accelerating.
The 5G activities seem to be local or national, with very limited transnational
visibility. Corporations use their testbeds mainly for learning and digitalisation
purposes. Cities use them for projects aimed at ameliorating life for inhabit-
ants and local business. Universities use testbeds for research, obviously, but
also for profiling. If the testbeds are aspiring for commercial viability – i.e. to
make money by themselves – it’s definitely too early to judge their success.
Nor have they excelled in finding new business opportunities.
As shown in the regional SWOT analysis to the right, the Nordic-Baltic region
features many strong 5G points. The large number of testbeds indicate great
interest from many stakeholders, particularly within the transport and man-
ufacturing industries. However, the test activities suffer from a lack of termi-
nals. The few 5G terminals that have been available are mostly prototypes,
and not all of them are in the common mobile phone form. This situation will
change soon as several phone vendors, e.g. Huawei, LG and Samsung, have
started or announced the imminent start of regular 5G phone sales.
The goal of a “common Nordic 5G space” as stated in the LoI signed by the
Nordic prime ministers seems still to be quite distant. There’s very little co-or-
dination of activities between spectrum authorities – one example is the lack
of transnational spectrum allocation. Governments seem to regard spectrum
as a natural resource of national importance. Pan-Nordic spectrum allocation
could potentially not only create an unprecedented scale of communication
opportunities, it would also encourage and enable cross-border business and
collaboration projects.
Another challenge for cross-border activities is the lack of dedicated funding
targeted towards Nordic-Baltic 5G projects. The test activities in the region
are today mainly funded by national sources or by European research projects
such as Horizon 2020 and thus there is a lack of incentive for Nordic or Nor-
dic-Baltic collaboration. 5G tests, like most business activities, tend to follow
the money, so if policymakers would like to see more Nordic-Baltic collabora-
tion, they should also create a funding scheme for such activities.
Agriculture could be low-hanging fruit for Nordic-Baltic 5G collaboration.
Sweden has a testbed, currently with 4G but with plans for 5G, for agricultural
purposes. Denmark has a strong agriculture industry but currently no testbed
for this vertical. Finland has taken some 5G initiatives within the forest indus-
try, and in Norway there’s an ambitious aquaculture testbed with plans for
5G experiments. A well-funded project where these activities could combine
forces and learn from each other could form the basis for a 5G knowledge
resource for the entire region. Stakeholders such as Lantmännen – a co-oper-
8ative owned by 25,000 Swedish farmers – could seize the opportunity to act
as intermediary in this vertical, defining, designing and developing appropriate
services. The large Swedish and Finnish forestry companies would probably
welcome such an initiative, as would the large Danish farms and agriculture
companies and the Norwegian fish farmers.
It should be noted that most of the testbeds in this survey are run with sup-
port and equipment from Ericsson or Nokia, with Huawei also showing up in
a few cases. Not surprisingly, Ericsson dominates the testbeds in Sweden and
Nokia in Finland. However, it’s definitely too early to predict which vendor will
dominate the market once 5G is rolled out on a larger scale.
Regional SWOT Nordic and Baltic Countries
Strengths Weaknesses
• Many 4G (aspiring for 5G) and • Little co-ordination of 5G
5G testbeds are very active activities across regional borders
• Letter of Intent signed between • Several verticals with little 5G
the Nordic prime ministers activity (agriculture, health and
• Several strong verticals, emergency services)
particularly manufacturing • Lack of available terminals
industries and transport • Difficulties in identifying new
• Home of telecom industry business models
leaders Ericsson and Nokia • Lack of “killer application”
• History of IT leadership • Few obvious intermediaries to
• Universities with world-class develop new 5G services
telecom research
Opportunities Threats
• The region could take a • Little co-ordination between
leading position within the governments and public
manufacturing industries and authorities across the region
transport • China, the USA and South
• 4G and NB IoT have cleared the Korea are way ahead in
path for 5G development
• Plethora of local 5G initiatives, • Other countries invest more
from cities, municipalities, money in development and
universities and industries research
• 5G revenue could cannibalise 4G
investment
Globally, the commercial roll-out of 5G networks has started in South Korea
and the USA, with China not far behind. It should be noted that the driving
forces are somewhat different in those markets. In South Korea, the demand
for enhanced mobile broadband seems insatiable. In the USA, many places
have a shortage of fixed broadband opportunities and 5G will offer a cost-ef-
fective way to install fixed mobile broadband. China diverted from the stand-
ard for 3G and 4G, and now has a strategic interest in taking the lead for 5G,
with a nationally driven 5G agenda and with Huawei as a strong national
equipment manufacturer.
9Finland
Finland is the only country in the region where 5G networks have been
launched, based on a conducted spectrum allocation being conducted and
resulting in operators Telia, DNA and Elisa being licensees. Telia has launched
a 5G network in Helsinki and an industrial 5G environment in Oulu. Elisa has
launched 5G currently available in the Helsinki, Tampere, Jyväskylä and Turku
city areas. DNA has launched precommercial networks in 5G in Helsinki and
Vantaa, and will soon launch commercial 5G in major cities.
SWOT Finland
Strengths Weaknesses
• The driving force is public organ- • Unclear business case, lack of
isations in collaboration with “killer application”
operators, academia and cities • No specific vertical is driving
• Commercial spectrum has been • Limited research in some
allocated verticals (health and agriculture)
• A strong national testbed net- • Low demand from customers
work
• Strong tradition within telecom
industries
• High degree of IT maturity
among the public and industry
• Proactive government facilitating
5G expansion
• Strong, co-ordinated academia
and research institute
• Financing for test projects is
available through Business Fin-
land and the EU
• Strong operators with healthy
competition
Opportunities Threats
• There is a new market opening • 4G NB IoT solutions are enough
for actors that will develop new for many use cases
services in relation to 5G • 5G revenue could cannibalise 4G
• Viable aspirations for global 5G investment
leadership
• Testbeds at ports in Oulu and
HaminaKotka
• Initiatives in forestry
• Strong 5G research, particularly
within the transport and
manufacturing industries
10In Finland, public organisations – in particular Traficom (the Finnish Transport
and Communications Agency), Business Finland and the Finnish Ministry of
Transport and Communications – have been very proactive, enabling early
spectrum licensing and investing money in 5G testbeds. Public organisations
are important driving forces for 5G in Finland, in collaboration with operators,
universities, municipalities and some industries. Finland features more 5G pro-
jects than any other country in the region, many of them co-ordinated by public
organisations, financed either by national sources – primarily Business Finland
– or by the European Union.
Oulu stands out as the hotbed of 5G development, with strong university re-
search, a proactive municipality, a port and a hospital engaged in 5G activities
and not least a multitude of startups.
Traficom leads the national ecosystem project 5G Momentum, with the goal
of making Finland number one in 5G technology. This ecosystem promises
to promote the development and introduction of 5G services by creating a
co-operation network for 5G trial activities. One of its activities is to promote
co-operation between cities and operators, e.g. by harmonising building permit
procedures and identifying common bottlenecks.
There is also a national 5G effort called 5GTNF – 5G Test Network Finland –
consisting of eight 4G/5G networks in seven cities, connected by a core net-
work. For details please see the list of testbeds in Chapter 8.
Sweden
In Sweden, the driving forces are mainly industry and some cities. There are a
plethora of 5G testbeds, some public but mostly private. Compared to Finland
there is hardly any co-ordination or collaboration between them, although
Ericsson and the operator Telia are active in a majority of them.
Public testbeds can be found in some cities, notably Umeå, Luleå and Kista, as
well as at some universities, e.g. KTH in Stockholm and Mid-Sweden Universi-
ty in Sundsvall. Private networks have been set up at a number of industries,
including Volvo CE in Eskilstuna, SKF in Gothenburg, the Kankberg mine in
Boliden, ABB in Västerås and Scania in Södertälje, and at vertical testbeds such
as AstaZero, a traffic safety testbed outside Borås. Many of these testbeds are
built around 4G networks with hitherto limited 5G functionality.
Most of the 5G activities within Swedish industry are aimed at finding out
how 5G can contribute to the general efficiency of manufacturing. This is very
much in line with other digitalisation and Industry 4.0 initiatives. However, the
incentives to share knowledge and research results outside these companies
are limited.
The publicly funded mining testbed in Kankberg is an exception. Here, industrial
stakeholders Boliden, Volvo CE, ABB and Epiroc, in collaboration with Ericsson
and Telia and the research institute RISE, have joined forces to climb a learning
curve with publicly available results. Insights gained include the fact that the 5G
network quickly becomes an integral part of the industrial process, underscor-
11ing the need for uptime and data about network status. The need for redun-
dancy, and possibility of running parts of the network independently, were
also underlined, as was the need to figure out data ownership, i.e. what data
created in the industrial process is owned by whom. Another insight was the
need for an operator. Someone has to shoulder the responsibility of operating
the network. This could, of course, be a national operator like Telia, but it could
also be the industrial company itself, or potentially a third party, e.g. an IT
consultant or another independent entity.
SWOT Sweden
Strengths Weaknesses
• The driving force is industry • Public authorities and
• Two strong verticals traditionally governments are reactive
(manufacturing industries and • Limited public funding available
transport) for testbeds
• Test-licences for 5G are free • Unco-ordinated and limited
• Several cities are active impact from institutes and
• Strong tradition in telecom academia
industries • Unclear business case, lack of
• Strong operators with healthy “killer application”
competition • Existing stakeholders are
• High degree of IT maturity conservative
among the public and industry • Industrial stakeholders don’t
• Private actors put money into communicate – development in
testbeds silos
• Strong vehicle industry with many • The allocation of spectrum is still
5G test initiatives very reactive
• Manufacturing industries with • Low demand from customers
strong history of digitalisation
and proactive efficiency work
Opportunities Threats
• Sweden could be a leader in • 4G NB IoT solutions are more
manufacturing industries than enough in most cases
• “Late” allocation of spectra – • 5G revenue could cannibalise 4G
seeing new opportunities and investment
learning from others
• The is a new market opening
for actors that will develop new
services in relation to 5G
• The degree of maturity of
4G creates an opportunity to
scale up to 5G when needed
and an opportunity to further
streamline processes
12Norway
In Norway, the operator Telenor has been identified as the major driving force.
Telenor founded the first Norwegian 5G testbed in Kongsberg in 2018, which
now, with industrial support, has grown to become a viable 5G innovation hub.
Telenor is currently setting up an extensive 5G operation in Trondheim with
some 50-100 base stations as well as a handful of base stations in the small
municipality of Elverum.
SWOT Norway
Strengths Weaknesses
• Strong operator • Delayed spectrum allocation due
• Free 5G test licences to government
• Roadmap for 5G spectrum • Unclear business case, lack of
• Two strong verticals traditionally “killer application”
(smart cities and offshore) • No strong traditional telecom
• Active cities, strong public industry
support from Oslo and • Low demand from industry and
Trondheim customers
• High degree of IT maturity
among the public and industry
• Strong culture of equal
opportunity
Opportunities Threats
• Initiatives within offshore, • 4G NB IoT solutions are more
autonomous shipping and than enough in most cases
aquaculture • 5G revenue could cannibalise 4G
• Premium prices for mobile investment
internet
• High number of connected
vehicles
Other 5G initiatives in Norway include Telia in Oslo with an early but limited
5G test in a cinema theatre, and a drone initiative on Svalbard for monitoring
global warming effects.
Norway is also instrumental in the EU project 5G VINNI, where Telenor, Erics-
son Norway and Huawei Norway among others are pushing 5G technology
development.
The Norwegian communications authority Nkom has published a roadmap for
5G spectrum allocation and conducted its first auction for 5G in the 700 MHz
band in May 2019, with licences expected to be valid from November.
13Norway’s strengths within shipping, offshore and fishing are obvious also with-
in the Norwegian 5G testbeds. Worth noting is a project for autonomous cargo
ships, where the control elements are developed by a start-up company. The
ship Yara Birkeland aspires to be the first autonomous and fully electric cargo
ship in the world, saving 90% of operating costs as neither fuel nor crew will be
needed. The goal is to save 40,000 truck journeys per year.
Denmark
In Denmark, the Danish Energy Agency, responsible for telecom regulations,
has published an ambitious roadmap called “5G Action Plan for Denmark”.
That document contains plans for frequency allocation, roll-out, regulations
and use cases for 5G, and emphasises how public and private stakeholders –
including testbeds – could collaborate to make Denmark a leading 5G nation.
Denmark conducted a spectrum auction in March 2019 in the 700, 900 and
2300 MHz bands. Some of these frequencies will be used for 5G.
SWOT Denmark
Strengths Weaknesses
• Ambitious 5G action plan from • Few test licences are used
Danish Energy Agency (perhaps due to charging for
• Initial spectrum auctions con- them)
ducted • 5G rollout lagging in comparison
• Strong operator driving the de- • No public facilitation network
velopment of 5G for 5G
• Focused on two verticals, smart • No identified leading testbed in
city and health, also activities in any vertical
transport and TV production. • Limited financing, public and
• Operators have big plans and the private, of testbeds
spectra to realise them • Low initial demand from
• Increased capacity for 4G customers
• Strong tradition of mobile lead- • Low apparent industrial interest
ership
• High degree of IT maturity
among the public and industry
Opportunities Threats
• Denmark could be leading in 5G • 4G NB IoT solutions are more
for agriculture due to strong than enough in most cases
stakeholders in this field. • 5G revenue could cannibalise 4G
• Initiatives in tv production, health, investment
transportation and data security
• Strong willingness to learn from
5G forerunners in e.g. China or
South Korea
14The Danish Energy Agency is, together with operator TDC, the prime 5G driving
force in Denmark. TDC says, however, that 5G on 2300 MHz will not happen until
2020. Until then, the focus will be on strengthening the 4G network.
It’s worth noting that Denmark charges standard fees for 5G trial licences, al-
though the sums are relatively low since these licences are limited in geography
and time.
TDC currently runs a 5G trial in Copenhagen focusing on high speed broadband
connections, and another with DR (the Danish public service broadcaster) explor-
ing how 5G can be useful for TV production, including aspects of net neutrality.
Other 5G testbeds in Denmark include a trial run by Telia and Telenor with Erics-
son equipment and a hospital in Odense researching opportunities for e.g. robots
transporting blood samples. Also, Aalborg University plans 5G tests for robotics
applications in factory automation, and there’s a testbed in Aarhus for precision
positioning and autonomous system, paving the way for precise and fast posi-
tioning in dense urban areas.
Iceland
Iceland is the smallest country in the region, but it nevertheless features some 5G
activities. The driving forces can be identified as the operators and the spectrum
authority, in tandem. There is a testbed run by the operator Nova, with equip-
ment from Huawei. Nova is an entrepreneurial operator, previously pioneering 3G,
4G and 4.5G in Iceland. A more major operator, Síminn, signed a contract in May
2019 with Ericsson for upgrading its 4G network to 5G.
The spectrum authority Post and Telecom Administration in Iceland has issued
two test licences for 5G, in Reykjavik (to Nova) and in Akranes, with the purpose
of testing basic 5G functionality. The country is currently finalising consultations
for spectrum allocation through an auction planned for late 2019 or early 2020.
Enhanced mobile broadband is foreseen as the first 5G application in Iceland. The
industrial interest is currently quite low. The Post and Telecom Administration
is ready to give e.g. aluminum melters a 5G test licence if such interest should
appear. No other vertical has shown any 5G activity.
Probably due to geography, the Icelandic 5G movement currently has little col-
laboration with other countries. The Post and Telecom Administration takes part
in European projects for network security, but no other collaboration has been
identified.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
In the Baltic countries, the governments are committed to implementing 5G.
Latvia made commercial frequencies available from 1 January 2019, and the
Ministers of Transportation for the three countries have signed an Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) to build a 5G-enabled digital highway through the Baltic
region. This agreement is arguably the best example of transnational 5G collabo-
ration at ministerial level in the Nordic-Baltic region.
15The highway, called Via Baltica North, consists of about 1000 km along the
European route E67, from Tallinn via Riga and Kaunas to the Lithuanian border
to Poland. Here, 5G rollout will be accelerated while ensuring unrestricted
cross-border system functionality. According to the plan, vehicles on the high-
way will use 5G for data transfer between themselves, as well for data collec-
tion through various sensors for infrastructure purposes. Testing autonomous
vehicles will be an integral part of the highway. The Baltic authorities stress
that this development is very much in line with the EU connectivity goals.
SWOT Baltic Countries
Strengths Weaknesses
• MoU between ministers of trans- • No strong industry to drive the
portation for a 5G transnational development
highway, highlighting Baltic 5G • Unclear business case, lack of
collaboration “killer application”
• Academia driving the develop- • Low demand from industry and
ment of 5G customers
• High degree of IT maturity • Limited national financial
among the government, public strength
and industry
• Strong culture of collaborating
• Organising large conferences in
5G
• 5G collaboration with Poland and
Germany
Opportunities Threats
• 5G highway for autonomous • Small countries, strong need for
vehicles collaboration
• Drone traffic between Finland • 4G NB IoT solutions are enough
and Estonia for delivery for many use cases
• Smart cities
• Manufacturing industries
• Close cooperation between
ministries, clusters and NGOs.
• Well-developed IT industry
The Latvian operator LMT demonstrated its first 5G test network in Septem-
ber 2018 and has since installed more than 180 5G-ready base stations, deliv-
ered by Nokia, around the country. A functional 5G network will launch during
Q2 this year. LMT also runs a number of 5G trial activities – for details please
see the appendix. Planned use cases in Latvia include TV delivery by mobile
network, transportation tracking and data collection using machine vision for
intelligent transport systems, as well as artificial intelligence for drones.
16Latvia also stands out as the most proactive Baltic country in terms of out-
reach, organising the event 5G Techritory, which aims to become an annual,
world-leading 5G technology conference.
Most other Baltic 5G initiatives centred around universities with testbeds are
focusing on research. A notable exception is the Ericsson factory in Tallinn,
where Ericsson and ABB are collaborating on a 5G project for manufacturing
antennas.
Åland, Faroe Islands and Greenland
There is a 5G initiative in Åland, run by local operator Ålcom. In the Faroe Is-
lands and Greenland no 5G activities have been identified.
17Business opportunities 3
– from a testbed viewpoint
It’s quite clear from the interviews done for this survey that the transition from
4G to 5G will be gradual and take several years. The promises of 5G – massive
broadband, low latency, network slicing and the ability to handle a large number
of nodes – can for many use cases be fulfilled by 4G and the 4G derivative NB-
IoT, Narrowband Internet of Things. Commercial NB-IoT networks are already up
and running, and since no “killer application” for 5G has been identified that will
by itself pay for the rather big investments associated with 5G for spectrum and
for equipment, the conclusion is that the demand for 5G will initially result in a
patchwork of hotspots interacting with existing 4G networks. Early business cas-
es will probably be found in local spots where decision chains are relatively fast,
e.g. digitalisation of a factory or a port. Businesses with more complex decision
chains, e.g. within health or emergency services, will need more time to develop
5G use cases, and by that time the 5G coverage will probably also have increased
to support their needs better.
Equipment vendors and operators – and several public agencies as well – agree
unanimously in interviews that new business cases and new business models will
be necessary for 5G success. These new business models will probably not be
the same for every vertical. The telecom vendors seem reluctant to change their
business models, preferring to keep selling their equipment more or less in bulk
to operators. The operators indicate in interviews that they probably will develop
some new horizontal services, which is expected to be needed in a large number
of verticals, but have little intent of developing specialised services for particular
vertical use cases with a low economy of scale. Some early industrial adopters
realise and accept that they will have to develop some services themselves, but
they don’t intend to market these solutions outside their own companies. Thus,
there seems to be room for intermediaries, but the question of who will devel-
op the new services and new business models needed for the various verticals
remains unanswered. Contenders include large IT consultancy companies such
as Tieto in Finland, Sweden and the Baltics, Atea in Norway and Sweden and
HiQ in Sweden. Tieto agrees in an interview that these companies must carefully
balance their interests in 5G business with their current customer relations with
operators as well as within the various verticals.
New technology usually means new opportunities for startups, and 5G is no ex-
ception here. However, startups need business cases with a relatively short lead
time to profit, and since the 5G networks are in their infancy, it’s probably too
early to identify 5G leaders in the startup community. It should be noted, though,
that there is plenty of 5G activity among startups in e.g. Oulu, Kongsberg and
Kista.
One reason for the lack of new or emerging business models could be a limited
understanding of what 5G really is. It would be a mistake to regard 5G simply as
an extension of 4G with some new features and functions. Instead, it could be
viewed as a “software-defined execution environment”, i.e. more of an IT environ-
ment than a mobile phone system, adaptable to a vast range of public and com-
mercial needs. Business interfaces within this environment, defining e.g. where
18information is exchanged or stored or where the execution capacity should be
situated, will have to be developed for each vertical or even each use case.
Business verticals where 5G is suggested as a solution provider include trans-
port, emergency services, manufacturing industries, energy, agriculture, aquacul-
ture, environment and health and welfare technology. Media and entertainment,
as well as Smart cities, are also suggested as promising verticals. As the list of
testbeds and projects indicates, transport has shown the most activity, closely
followed by the manufacturing industry.
Transport 5G stakeholders include some industry giants such as Volvo and
Scania in Sweden, but also some medium-sized operations such as the testbed
AstaZero in Sweden, the harbours of Oulu and HaminaKotka – as well as the
harbour test environment in Tampere – in Finland and the planned drone opera-
tion between Finland and Estonia.
Within the manufacturing industry some large corporations are clearly driving
development. Industrial 5G forerunners include multinational companies such as
ABB, Ericsson, Scania, Boliden, SKF and Volvo in Sweden, Stora Enso and Nokia
in Finland and Ericsson/ABB in Estonia.
PHOTO: UNSPLASH.COM
19There are 5G networks up and running within all these operations in transport
and manufacturing, but access is mostly limited to insiders. The knowledge
gained within the testbeds is, though, judged as very advanced, and could, given
the right incentives, become a foundation for Nordic-Baltic global leadership
within these verticals.
Agriculture is, as stated above, another vertical with potential for Nordic collab-
oration with subsequent global impact. The testbed in Ultuna, Sweden combined
with the Danish strength in agricultural business, Norwegian aquaculture and
Finnish forestry 5G initiatives would offer interesting opportunities given proper
incentives.
The only environmental 5G activity identified in this survey is the drone operation
on Svalbard for measuring the impact of global warming. The Norwegian auton-
omous ship described above will have environmental impact, but the business
case is clearly sorted under Transport.
There are initiatives by some energy companies to use 5G, but they mainly
concern logistics and should probably be regarded as transportation trials. One
promising example is an oil and gas platform off the Norwegian coast, where
staff could be reduced for safety and cost reasons by installing a large number
of sensors controlled by a 4G or 5G network, communicating to land over fibre.
Such a trial is today being run by Telia at a platform in the North Sea, utilising IoT
technology. Also, the Finnish project 5G VIIMA includes research and trials for 5G
on smart grids.
Within health and welfare we have so far identified only a small number of test-
beds, which are still in the early planning stages. The project CareUseCase in Oulu
seems to be the most advanced of these, with a project for 5G assisted living
for people with memory disabilities. In the adjacent vertical, sports, the Swedish
Olympic Committee and its partners have plans for a 5G sports testbed at the
Stockholm Stadium, using the 5G network established at the neighboring univer-
sity, KTH. There is a substantial health 5G project, aptly named “Future e-Health
powered by 5G”, with project members from Sweden and Finland. This project
was kicked off in March 2019 and is currently defining its content. The actual
trials will take place in various testbeds across Europe – the project will procure
testbed services in due course.
The Smart City vertical is more often than not initiated by municipalities. Some,
e.g. Umeå and Luleå, are particularly active, as are Sundsvall, Helsingborg and
Kista in Sweden. Oulu and Espoo in Finland, as well as Trondheim and Elverum in
Norway, should also be mentioned in this context. Whether or not Smart City 5G
activities should be sorted into the other verticals or remain as a vertical on their
own merits can be discussed.
As indicated, many so-called 5G testbeds are today operated with 4G technolo-
gy. The availability of 5G terminals is definitely a limitation. As of today, only two
vendors offer 5G terminals, both with limited 5G features, mainly broadband. 5G
terminals supporting low latency will probably be available during 2020.
20Concluding remarks and 4
recommendations
The mapping of 5G testbeds, trials and projects indicates a huge and wide-
spread commercial, governmental and academic interest in the new opportu-
nities offered by the technology. If a bet should be placed on where the Nor-
dic-Baltic region could take a global lead, the odds would probably favour the
manufacturing industries. This area has many test activities in the region and has
sound financial reasons for adopting 5G quite early. An outsider could be agricul-
ture. As shown above, agriculture, including aquaculture and forestry, is a field
where the Nordic-Baltic strengths could be combined into a potential 5G power-
house.
For this to happen, new incentives are needed. The obvious reason for the low
level of cross-border Nordic-Baltic collaboration is the lack of funding for such
projects. As stated previously, most stakeholders tend to regard 5G testing and
development as a local or national interest – or as European for projects funded
by the EU. Very few test projects have any transnational component. A notewor-
thy exception is the Baltic agreement on a ministerial level for joint 5G coverage
of a highway across the three Baltic countries. The annual conference 5G Techri-
tory in Riga also strongly signals a collaborative ambition.
Policymakers have several opportunities to ameliorate and accelerate the 5G
development in the region. Some suggestions are discussed below:
• Although much of the spectrum available for 5G has already been auctioned,
it could be worth evaluating whether future licensing auctions could be
better synchronised. The goal would be to make it possible for operators to
acquire licences for the entire Nordic-Baltic region for at least a designat-
ed part of the suitable spectrum. This would create scale for the operators
and the equipment vendors, while also making it easier to do transnational
business for their corporate clients – the companies in the various verticals.
The individual countries have shown many examples of “best practice” for
spectrum allocation – these should be exchanged between the countries and
built on for further collaboration.
• Consider opportunities for new stakeholders, not only the traditional telecom
operators, to license spectrum. As indicated by some of the testbeds, this
would allow for a new, more dynamic business environment, where operators
and their customers as well as third parties could develop new business cases
and innovations.
• New regulation could be needed for several aspects of 5G. For a start, one
issue might be to harmonise the regulation practices for how network slicing
can coexist with network neutrality. Network neutrality states that all net-
work traffic should be treated on equal terms. However, with network slicing
the traffic in that slice by definition gets a more favourable treatment than
the traffic outside the slice. How these regulations are applied in practice
21differs between the countries in the region, which slows down development,
as some operators are unwilling to allow for network slicing, fearing legal
retribution. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communication
(BEREC) is addressing this issue, and the Nordic-Baltic members should
speak with a common voice in those discussions and of course implement the
BEREC recommendations in the same way.
• It should be noted that network slicing can be done manually in today’s 4G
networks, but the technical opportunities are much better, and the slicing
can be done dynamically and be fully automated, in the 5G networks.
• Innovation in the 5G space would also benefit from deregulated experimen-
tal zones, where the need for e.g. building permits (for antennas etc.) and
concession fees would be waived, and vehicles and other equipment wouldn’t
need type approval. Such zones could be established around existing test-
beds, universities or science parks.
• Speak with a common Nordic-Baltic voice in the European Union on mat-
ters of 5G policy and funding for 5G projects. Encourage collaboration in the
Nordic-Baltic region by directly allocating money to Nordic-Baltic projects or
money to assist in Nordic-Baltic applications for EU funding. Incentives for
Nordic-Baltic collaboration could also stem from more synchronised national
funding.
• Creating a dedicated funding scheme for Nordic-Baltic 5G collaboration
could also be an option. If, for instance, the Nordic countries agreed to co-fi-
nance a five-year, EUR 10 million/year project to accelerate 5G development
within e.g. the manufacturing industry or agriculture, with a clear objective
to find new business opportunities, the companies and other stakeholders
in those fields would most probably agree to co-finance such a project with
similar amounts of money. The value and feasibility of such a project should
at least be properly evaluated.
If Nordic-Baltic 5G leadership is to have a chance to manifest itself, time is of
essence. The opportunities offered by the 5G rollouts will be quickly harnessed
by new entrepreneurs and existing businesses. Without Nordic-Baltic incentives,
be they political, financial or of another nature, the alliances and collaborations
necessary for leadership will be built where those incentives can be found.
22Method and approach 5
The Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned RISE in March 2019 to carry out a
baseline study for a cross-sectorial mapping of 5G testbeds with the following
tasks and deliverables:
• Identify and describe for each area the most important, competitive and ad-
vanced test environments/testbeds/innovation hubs/demo facilities related
to high-speed mobile internet connections (4G and 5G) in the Nordic-Baltic
region.
• Based on the results of the baseline study, identify regional strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the application and innovation of
wireless connected products, services and businesses based on 4G and 5G.
This mapping was based on a combination of desk and primary research con-
ducted from March to June 2019, detailing key features of 5G testbeds and how
various organisations aspire to develop or use this emerging technology. An early
version was presented in April 2019 and a second version in May 2019. Input has
continuously come from members of the 5G expert group and further interviews
with telecom vendors, telecom operators and other stakeholders from the IT and
telecom industries and from universities and research institutes, as well as from
testbeds and from various verticals (agriculture, the manufacturing industry,
transportation, health, energy, smart cities etc.).
In total, some 20 physical interviews have been held, plus more than 50 Skype/
telephone meetings, two conference visits, numerous email contacts and a vast
amount of Internet searches. Based on this input we have established a list of 5G
testbeds and 4G testbeds with plans to proceed to 5G, as well as a list of rele-
vant 5G research and development projects, more often than not connected to
one or more of the testbeds.
The definition of a 5G testbed is something of a challenge. The choice for this
report is to be inclusive – test sites that today use 4G but have plans for 5G are
included as testbeds in the longlist. Relevant 5G research encompassing more
than one testbed or not necessarily implemented in a testbed yet is referred to
as “projects”. European projects with Nordic participation are listed under the
predominant Nordic country. This choice should serve the purpose of highlighting
the current 5G action hotspots.
The mapping and the interviews carried out are also the basis for the SWOT
analyses for the Nordic-Baltic region and for the individual countries. These
SWOT analyses indicate complementarities and should be regarded as food for
thought for further Nordic and Baltic collaboration discussions.
23Verticals and current testbed status 6
Initially, this survey was supposed to cover testbeds divided into five verticals:
Transport, Mission-critical Communications, Manufacturing Industry, Energy
Environment Agriculture and Aquaculture, and Health and Welfare. For practical
purposes, the mapping was extended to seven verticals, adding Smart Cities and
5G Research and Development to the original list.
Identified verticals:
Transport
a. Sustainable and climate-efficient transport solutions
b. Transport system and connected vehicles
c. Remote-controlled airborne services (drones)
Mission-critical communications
a. Emergency services
b. Law enforcement
Advanced automation in the manufacturing industry
a. Augmented reality for employees
b. Interconnected factories
c. Robust and low latency communications
Energy, environment, agriculture and aquaculture
a. Energy-saving measures, smart grids, power management
b. Increased yield in food production
c. Detailed monitoring
Health and welfare technology
a. Hospital effectivisation
b. Transport in hospital environment
Smart cities
a. A vertical that includes several of the verticals above
to interconnect a city
b. Entertainment
5G R&D
a. Research and development of 5G technology
b. Network research
c. Security research
Several testbeds and projects represent more than one vertical, as they offer
services within multiple fields. The projects are defined as specific projects
with importance to 5G, usually within a testbed but they could also be larger,
multinational, EU-funded projects with multiple partners.
24Below is a summary of all the testbeds and projects organised in the respective
verticals. More details on each testbed and project can be found in the appendix.
This list does not aspire for completeness; it should rather be regarded as a best
effort to map current 5G activities.
Transport: This vertical is the most active, with 17 testbeds and 19 projects.
Testbeds: Testbed in Aarhus for Precision Positioning and Autonomous
Systems (TAPAS) (Denmark)
Gate Denmark 5G in Aabenraa (Denmark)
Taltech University in Tallinn (Estonia)
5GTNF (Finland)
Port of Oulu (Finland)
Port of HaminaKotka (Finland)
Digital road and connected cars with 5G & MEC (Latvia)
Longyearbyen in Svalbard (Norway)
KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (Sweden)
AstaZero in Borås (Sweden)
Urban ICT Arena (Sweden)
Scania in Södertälje (Sweden)
Västervik Drone Testbed (Sweden)
Volvo in Skövde (Sweden)
Volvo CE in Eskilstuna (Sweden)
Luleå University of Technology (Sweden)
Environmentally friendly self-driving vehicles in Jönköping
(Sweden)
Projects: Detecting pollution in Port of Riga (Latvia)
Rescue drone for wildfire (Latvia)
Mobile Network for UAVs (Latvia)
Transportation of laboratory samples with drones (Latvia)
5GMOBIX (Finland)
5G Drive (Finland)
GOF U-Space (Finland)
Drone weather (Finland)
FABULOUS (Finland)
5G Safe+ (Finland)
SecurePax (Finland)
NordicWay2 (Finland)
NordicWay3 (Finland)
TACK (Attack-Resistant Internet of Things Networks) (Finland)
5G project – 5G in marine time automation (Finland)
5G project – Smart roads/Arctic transport (Finland)
5G project – Spectrum share/smart roads (Finland)
MAMIME (LTE, WIFI and 5G Massive MIMO Communications
in Maritime
Propagation Environments) (Norway)
AURORA BOREALIS – Intelligent corridor (Norway)
25Mission-critical communications: 1 testbed and no projects
Testbeds: Public safety and defence (Latvia)
Projects: No projects found
Advanced automation in the manufacturing industry: 12 testbeds and 4 projects
Testbeds: 5G at Aalborg University (Denmark)
Ericsson factory in Tallinn (Estonia)
5GTNF (Finland)
Sensible Things that Communicate (Sweden)
Kankberg mine in Boliden (Sweden)
The Smart Industry lab (Sweden)
ABB in Västerås (Sweden)
Scania in Södertälje (Sweden)
Enabled Manufacturing in Gothenburg (Sweden)
Volvo in Skövde (Sweden)
Volvo CE in Eskilstuna (Sweden)
Luleå University of Technology (Sweden)
Projects: Telia/Oulun Nuottasaari (Finland)
5G VIIMA (Vertical Integrated Industry for Massive Automa-
tion) (Finland)
5G project – Industry/Public safety (Finland)
5G project – Smart harbours (Finland)
Energy, environment, agriculture and aquaculture: 7 testbeds and 2 projects
Testbeds: 5G trial in Copenhagen (Denmark)
5G for TV production (Denmark)
5GTNF (Finland)
LMT 5G Laboratory (Latvia)
LMT public 5G Testbed (Latvia)
Salmar fish farming (Norway)
Testbed for digitised agriculture (Sweden)
Projects: Rescue drone for wildfire (Latvia)
Mobile Network for UAVs (Latvia)
Health and welfare technology: 4 testbeds and 1 project
Testbeds: 5G for hospital applications in Padborg (Denmark)
5GTNF (Finland)
Umeå 5G (Sweden)
Stockholm Stadium (Sweden)
Projects: Health 5G (Finland/Sweden)
Smart cities: 14 testbeds and 14 projects
Testbeds: 5G pilot in large city (Denmark)
Testbed in Aarhus for Precision Positioning and Autonomous
Systems (TAPAS) (Denmark)
265GTNF (Finland)
Nova headquarters, Reykjavik (Iceland)
LMT 5G Laboratory (Latvia)
Digital road and connected cars with 5G & MEC (Latvia)
Kongsberg in Oslo (Norway)
Trondheim city (Norway)
Elverum municipality (Norway)
Odeon Cinema in Oslo (Norway)
Umeå 5G (Sweden)
KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
Urban ICT Arena (Sweden)
Luleå University of Technology (Sweden)
Projects: 5GKIRI (Finland)
LuxTurrim5G (Finland)
Healthy Outdoor Premises for Everyone (HOPE) (Finland)
UrbanSense (Finland)
5G-XCAST (Finland)
A-WEAR/5G and mmWave capabilities in wearable applications
(Finland)
Telia/Finavia (Finland)
5G-selvitys/Suomen kasvukäytävä (Finland)
5G Delta/5G Suomen kasvukäytävälle (Finland)
5G project – Operational and business models for smart city 5G
networks (Finland)
5G project – Media and entertainment (Finland)
5G project – Public safety (Finland)
5G project – Air quality (Finland)
5G project – 5G applications for smart cities (Finland)
5G R&D: 5 testbeds and 13 projects
Testbeds: 5GTNF (Finland)
LMT NB-IoT network technology testbed (Riga, Latvia)
LMT LTE-M network technology testbed (Riga, Latvia)
Cybersecurity Testbed (Latvia)
Sensible Things that Communicate (Sweden)
Projects: Mikrotīkls 5G Laboratory (Latvia)
Internet at high altitude in Vecumnieki (Latvia)
5G FORCE (Finland)
5G-RANGE (Finland)
Sat5G (Finland)
ASCENT – Demonstrator of licence-assisted spectrum access
satellite networks (Finland)
6Genesis (Finland)
FUWIRI (Finland)
Terranova (Finland)
Cognitive Self-organising Networks (CSON) for 5G (Finland)
5G reliability measurements (Finland)
5G-VINNI (Norway)
Secure Consolidated Trustable Things (SCOTT) (Norway)
27Accelerating 5G in the Nordic and Baltic region: steppingstones for cross border collaboration Sofia Målberg, Adam Edström and Torbjörn Jonsson Nord 2019:061 ISBN 978-92-893-6422-5 (PDF) ISBN 978-92-893-6423-2 (EPUB) http://doi.org/10.6027/NO2019-061 © Nordic Council of Ministers 2019 This publication was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the Nordic Council of Ministers’ views, opinions, attitudes or recommendations Layout: Jette Koefoed Nordic co-operation Nordic co-operation is one of the world’s most extensive forms of regional collaboration, involving Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. Nordic co-operation has firm traditions in politics, the economy, and culture. It plays an important role in European and international collaboration, and aims at creating a strong Nordic community in a strong Europe. Nordic co-operation seeks to safeguard Nordic and regional interests and principles in the global community. Shared Nordic values help the region solidify its position as one of the world’s most innovative and competitive. Nordic Council of Ministers Nordens Hus Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen www.norden.org Download and order Nordic publications from www.norden.org/nordpub
Nordic Council of Ministers
Nordens Hus
Ved Stranden 18
DK-1061 Copenhagen
www.norden.org
Testbeds are pivotal in developing and deploying 5G infrastructure in the Nordic
and Baltic region. This publication investigates the challenges, potentials and
opportunities in a differentiated 5G regional landscape based on a SWOT
analysis and mapping of the most advanced test facilities of the region. It aims
to take the temperature of 5G activities, identifying valuable verticals such as
the manufacturing industry, and indicating progress in a regional, national and
cross-sectorial perspective. It provides insight into the region’s weaknesses and
strongholds, as well as how important cross-border collaboration is in the fast-
forwarding 5G global race.
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